Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Croatia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 17 August 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force on 1 August 2010.

In April 2012, Croatia reported that the working group established to prepare national implementing legislation, including penal sanctions to prevent and suppress any activity prohibited under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, has produced a first draft of the proposed legislation.[1] In May 2012, Croatia informed the Monitor that the Armed Forces of Croatia had included the convention’s obligations in an expanded curriculum on agreements and treaties that Croatia has joined.[2]

Croatia submitted its second Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 transparency report on 10 April 2012, covering calendar year 2011.[3]

Croatia made many notable contributions throughout the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and, from its experience as an affected state, advocated for the strongest possible provisions on victim assistance.[4] Croatia enacted a moratorium on the use, production, and transfer of cluster munitions in 2007, prior to the conclusion of the process.[5]

Croatia has continued to actively engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. At the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011, Croatia was made co-chair on stockpile destruction and retention together with Germany. It made a general statement and a statement on victim assistance. Croatia participated in the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2012, where it made statements on universalization, victim assistance, cooperation and assistance, and co-chaired the stockpile destruction and retention session.

For the fourth year in a row, Croatia held a regional workshop on implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Rakitje on 16-18 May 2012. The event was organized by Croatia’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the RACVIAC-Centre for Security Cooperation and government representatives participated from seven States Parties (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Lebanon, FYR Macedonia, and Montenegro) as well as from non-signatory Serbia.[6] 

Interpretive issues

Croatia has expressed its views on a number of issues important to the interpretation and implementation of the convention. Croatia considers that transit of cluster munitions across, or foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on, the national territory of State Parties is prohibited by the convention. It also considers investment in the production of cluster munitions to be prohibited by the convention.[7]

Croatia has also stated, “As for the interoperability and use of cluster munitions by countries that are not signatories to the [convention], and are serving within joint military operations, Republic of Croatia will act in accordance with provisions stipulated in Article 21 of the Convention.”[8]

In April 2012, Croatia stated that it agrees with the concerns raised by CMC that it is not clear how the convention’s phrase “minimum number of cluster munitions absolutely necessary” for the retention of cluster munitions will be interpreted and said that it is “crucial that states comply fully with the detailed reporting requirement on cluster munitions retained for development and training.”[9] Croatia has not retained any live cluster munitions or submunitions for training and development purposes as permitted by Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (see Stockpiling section).

Convention on Conventional Weapons

Croatia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and it actively engaged in CCW work on cluster munitions in 2011.

At the outset of the CCW's Fourth Review Conference in November 2011, Croatia pledged to “work constructively” to reach consensus on the chair’s draft text of the proposed CCW protocol on cluster munitions and stated that despite the “challenging process, as long as there is an effort to prohibit or restrict the use of CM [Cluster Munitions] in all its aspects, Croatia will remain fully engaged.[10]

During the negotiations, Croatia sought to strengthen the chair’s draft text, including to achieve an immediate prohibition on transfers of cluster munitions.[11] On the final day of the conference, Croatia did not however join 50 states in a joint statement declaring that the chair’s draft text does not fully address the fundamental concerns and is unacceptable from a humanitarian standpoint, and therefore does not command consensus.[12]

The Review Conference ended without reaching agreement on the draft protocol and with no official proposals to continue negotiations in 2012, thus marking the end of the CCW’s work on cluster munitions.

Use, production, and transfer

Croatia has stated that it does not produce cluster munitions, did not import them, and that the Armed Forces of Croatia have not used them, including in missions under UN auspices.[13]

Previously Croatia informed the Monitor that “no Yugoslav production facilities for cluster munitions or their components were formerly located in Croatia,” but acknowledged that until 1999, the Croatian company SUIS d.o.o. in Kumrovec produced a cluster munition called the M-93 120mm mortar projectile.[14] In April 2012, Croatia reported that the production facilities were officially decommissioned when bankruptcy proceedings for the company were completed in 2006.[15]

On 2–3 May 1995, forces of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina (Republika Srpska Krajina, RSK) under the leadership of Milan Martić shelled Zagreb with M-87 Orkan rockets equipped with submunitions, killing at least seven civilians and injuring more than 200.[16] Additionally, the Croatian government has claimed that Serb forces dropped BL-755 cluster bombs in Sisak, Kutina, and along the Kupa River.[17]

Stockpiling

Croatia inherited approximately 170 tons of stockpiled cluster munitions during the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.[18] In its April 2012 Article 7 report, Croatia declared a total of 7,235 cluster munitions containing 178,785 submunitions, comprised of the following types.

Croatia’s Cluster Munition Stockpile (as of 31 December 2011)[19]

Stockpile destruction

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Croatia is required to destroy all its stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 August 2018. Croatia has stated its commitment to destroying the stockpiled munitions in advance of the convention’s eight-year deadline.[20]

The stockpile destruction program began in January 2011 with a research stage during which NGO Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) produced a feasibility study for consideration by the Ministry of Defense.[21] From 26 June to 7 July 2011, Croatia’s Ministry of Defense and NPA personnel conducted undertook research and development period.[22] During this research, in July 2011, Croatia destroyed six cluster munitions: two 120mm mortar projectiles, one 262mm rocket and one each BL-755, RBK 250 PTAB and RBK 260/275 bombs.[23]

On 13 September 2011, a forest fire caused an explosion at the Pađane military storage site, which destroyed a portion of the stockpile. In April 2012, Croatia reported that the explosion resulted in the destruction of 68 BL-755 bombs, 77 RBK-250 PTAB-2.5M bombs, and eight RBK-250 ZAB 2.5M bombs as well as all their submunitions.[24] There were no casualties in this incident.[25]

Throughout 2012, Croatia’s stockpile of cluster munitions will be consolidated at three locations closer to the destruction site at Slunj military training ground. All cluster munitions will be disassembled and the explosive submunitions destroyed by open burning or detonation. Environmental contamination will be minimized through re-use, recycling and reprocessing of materials where possible. Croatia estimates that with financial support totaling approximately €300,000 it should be able to destroy the remaining 110 tons of cluster munitions within one to two years otherwise by 2018 if using only its own resources.[26]

In May 2012, Croatia informed the Monitor that the Ministry of Defense “is contemplating the best destruction options for the reduction of the remaining stockpiles. The selection of the best option depends on several factors including: safety of personnel involved in disassembly, number of munitions and submunitions, time required, risk of kick-out during demolition, explosive limits on destruction site and environment impact and recovery of materials.”[27]

Retention Croatia declared in January 2011 that it intends to retain 14 cluster munitions and a total of 1,737 submunitions for training and educational purposes and for display at a military museum. It stated that the cluster munitions will be disassembled and the submunitions disarmed and made free from explosives.[28] In its second Article 7 report (April 2012), Croatia again listed 14 cluster munitions as retained for training and stated that because the munitions are inert it was “not actual retention”.[29]

In April 2012, Croatia encouraged all State Parties to “consider this technique of retention” by retaining inert and not live cluster munitions.[30]